Improvement in corset skirt-supporters



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

J. W. BROOKS, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT lN CORSET SKIRT-SUPPORTERS.

ASpecification forming part of Letters Patent No. 90,920, dated June 8, 1869.

To all/whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, J. W. BRooKs, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented anew and useful Improvement in Corset Skirt-Supporters; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference bein g had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon. y y

A, Figure l, represents an ordinary corset. B O D E represent the supporter attached thereto, which should be attached to the corset just below the smallest part of the waist, so that the skirts when fastened around the person at the usual place will rest upon it. The supporter is inclosed in pockets, which extend from the back at C and D around each side, as near to the front as it is desired to have the supporter extend.

Fig. 2 represents a cross-section through F G in Fig. 1, in which f g is the body of the corset, 'L' the solid part of the supporter, and h the pocket inolosing the supporter, which is sewed to the corset, as shown at j.

The pocket maybe made of one or two thicknesses of fabric, as may be desired. One is probably suficient.

H I J K, in Fig. 3, represent the supporter, which consists of a coil of wire, within the central portion of which, from I to J, is inserted and fastened with little staples, or in any convenient way, a piece of whalebone, rattan, basliet-willow, or any substance which possesses the requisite stiffness and elasticity. This portion of the coil, so far as it is likely to be exposed by the opening at the back of the corsets, as shown at C D, had best be covered, though this is not essential, to prevent its wearing the clothing resting upon it.

At the ends ofthe coil, as shown at H and K, are hooks, which hold the coil in its place by hooking into eyes, holes in the corsets, or

into the ends of the pockets, or the ends of the coil may be fastened in any other convenient way.

For the coil of wire, india-rubber or any other material possessing the requisite elasticity and power to keep its form may be substituted.

The opening at the back of the corsets at C D is liable to be closed up entirely or to be opened as much as two or three inches. As this opening narrows, the springs H I and J K will shorten, and as it widens, from looser lacing or other causes. the springs will lengthen, thus shortening or lengthening the supporter, as circumstances may require, while the back part between I and J, by its stift'- ness, will be enabled to carry the apparel resting upon it, though the opening between O and D, Fig. 1, across which it is unsupported, be enlarged to the limit ot' ordinary requirements.

When the corsets require washing, or if at any time the supporter is not desired'to be worn, it may be quickly removed by simply unhooking it at the ends and drawing it out ofthe pockets.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The combination of the supporter H I J K with a corset, A, when said supporter is Vconstructed and arranged to operate as herein described and represented.

2. The combination of the contracting and expandingsprings H I and J K with the ilexible but non-elastic portion I J between said springs, for forming a removable and replaceable skirt-supporter, substantially as and for the purpose described.

J. WV. BROOKS. 

